Spur of the moment triathlon spectating & lots of weekend cycling

It's Monday !! Ok that doesn't sound as exciting as "It's Friday" & nothing I say or do will change the fact that today IS Monday & my weekend is over.

This weekend was a fun one & I was able to cycle on both days. Saturday morning I met with my parents and had brunch at the little French restaurant that my friend and I visitied a few weeks ago. After our brunch we went to a local bakery and I had a chocolate macadamia nut cookie. After I logged my calories, I only had 186 calories left for the day & that  is definitely not enough for dinner. When I got home, I loaded my bike in the car and went to the bike/running path by my house.  It was 83 degrees & felt a bit warmer due to the humiditiy but overall it was perfect  for a long ride. I ended up going a little over 16 miles & burned 746 calories. Next time I am going to aim for 20 miles! 

post ride selfie

I planned to take Sunday off to do some housework & tackle the mountain of laundry that I was avoiding throughout the week.

My friend J called me later that evening and asked if I wanted to go watch the Montclair Triathlon & take photos of some friends who were competing. I agreed & after I hung up I thought what was I thinking?? I hate getting up that early especially on my day off, unless I myself have a race to do. The triathlon is right around the corner from me so we decided that she just would come over to my house at 6am.

At 5:30am Sunday morning I began the battle with the snooze button. I thought I heard my alarm going off again at 5:45am and tried to turn it off only to realize it was an actual phone call from J. She was checking to see if I was awake. I lied replied "yes I'm up, just getting my camera gear ready. See you in a few." Talk about bat-out-of-hell moment! I jumped out of bed, threw on my cycling clothes, brushed my teeth & searched all over for a backpack for my camera & 2 lenses. I couldn't remember where I last put it, so I ended up using a side shoulder bag. It worked out in the end but man my shoulder wasn't happy with having to carry around all the extra weight. 

We got to there 30+  minutes to spare so we met up with friends who were waiting on the beach for the start. It was a perfect morning for a triathlon.

Lake Montclair 

The swim portion was a 750 meter open water swim which would give us some time to postition ourselves along the course for some decent pictures. We tried to figure out how we could photograph a little bit of everything. Our plan was to photo our friends at their starting waves and as they go to transition #1. Then get on our bikes and ride to a good spot on the bike course to capture them going by.

Coming out of the water and into Transition #1

After getting out of T1 they had to ride their bikes up a hill and do 2 loops totaling 13 miles.

Heading toward transition #2 to complete the last leg. 

It was a fun morning. I love spectating and cheering for friends. We ended up doing a short 4 mile bike ride afterwards.

J & I after our short 4 mile ride

I got home and finished the rest of my laundry. While waiting on the dryer I marinated some boneless chicken breast & fired up the BBQ grill for dinner.  

No more excuses!

Your probably thinking that I am talking about motivation & weightloss. Nope!! I am talking about self doubt.

You see for months I have browsed the internet and thought about signing up for a cycling event. I missed a few opportunites already (Pauls Ride for Life & the Airforce Cycling Classic) because of the little self doubt devil that sits on my left shoulder. I would go so far as the registration page & everytime I got to the final registration screen for both events, crazy thoughts would dance around in my head like "will I be fast enough, I am too fat for cycling, I will be the last one to finish..." and both times I chickened out and clicked the little red box with the x in the top right corner to close out the window.

Last night I did a 10 mile ride & while on the trail I was passed by this tall guy who had to have been going at least 20 mph. I thought wow there is no way in hell I would be able to maintain that type speed for any long distance ride. I may be able to hang on for a couple miles at most. 

I kept on going and a few minutes later an older guy (I am guessing in his mid 50's) was about to pass me. By this time I had enough and wasn't going to let another person pass me &so my competitive "engine" went into high gear. He stayed with me for a good 3 miles then the gap widened and I was far ahead of him. While pedaling away I thought about all those lost opportunities for rides that I could have participated it but let my silly fears get the best of me. I made a promise to myself to stop making excuses and just DO IT!

post ride hot socks

There is a ride coming up in August that has several distance options 10, 25 or 63 miles. I have been eyeballing this ride for weeks and this morning I went to their webpage and did it. I registered for their 25 mile ride!! I actually wanted to do the metric century (63 miles) but there simply is not enough time to train for that distance between now and the event day. 

I have always wanted to do a century ride and the one I would like to do is the Seagull Century ride in Salisbury, MD. I refuse to do it solo so I need to really work on convincing my friend J or hubby to do it with me. 

moving away with a Georgetown Cupcake

Why do the weekends go by so fast? Well, I had a nice weekend and I was somewhat sucessful with my eating. I actually managed to get a hold of some self control. Saturday we took my daughter to Bonefish Grill  for her birthday and I enjoyed some Bang Bang Shrimp and a nice Chilean Sea Bass lunch/dinner. My plan was to eat breakfast and combine the remaining calories with a late lunch/early dinner. We got to the restaurant at 4 and finished by 5:30. We went to the mall afterwards and killed another 2 hours of walking and trying on dresses, so by the time I got home, it was after 8pm. I logged my food on MFP (MyFitnessPal) thinking I was good to go but HOLY COW those Bang Bang shirmp were crazy high in calories- ugh! I ended up going over my daily calories by 14. Thankfully I only ate 1/4 of the appetizer otherwise it would have been really stupid ugly.

On Sunday morning a couple of my friends and I headed over to Georgetown Cupcake. Our friend "M" is moving to Texas today and a few weeks back we made a promise to get her in there for a salted caramel cupcake. She is crazy about most things that are salted caramel. The the last time we went there, I wrote a post here explaining how long the line was. Well this time we only had to wait about 15 minutes. I bought 3 (Peanut Butter Fudge, Marble Brownie Fudge Cheesecake & Lavender Earl Grey Teacake) and got a 4th (Chocolate Dipped Strawberry) one for free by mentioning the flavor of the day to the cashier. If you go to their facebook page Georgetown Cupcake they list their flavor of the day and all you have to do is mention it to the cashier & you will get it for free. Luckily we got there early enough that they still had some free ones.

After we got our cupcakes we walked and browsed the shops on M Street. We stopped at a place called Olivia Macaron it's a small shop across from Dean & DeLuca that sells all kinds of flavored macarons. They were $2 each which seems a bit high considering how small they are but what the heck, I bought the coffee one and coconut. The coconut was delish! I liked the coffee but it didn't have as strong of a coffee flavor as I would have liked. The shop had a cute wall of the macarons that was very colorful. We goofed around and took some pictures in front of it.

I got home around 5 and decided to try one of my cupcakes. I ate gobbled down the Peanut Butter Fudge one, OMG why does all the bad food taste so good. Why can't healthy food taste this good?? I felt guilty afterward and loaded the bike in the car and managed to get in 15 1/2 miles. It was nice and quiet on the path. I only saw 6 people at most either running or biking. It dawned on me after I got home that everyone must have been watching the USA soccer game. Go team USA !!

yes I had to take the customary pre bike selfie

some bikers ahead & nobody after that for about 7 miles

I will end this post with a good luck wish for my friend "M". Have a safe trip to Texas! Oh how we will miss going places and doing goofy things together. We will plan to come see you (((hugs))) my friend!!

good times my friend

Age is just a number, right?

It's FRIDAY & it also happens to be my oldest one's birthday! She is a wonderful young lady who has been through thick and thin with me over the years and who has made me one proud mama. I love you very much! A big Happy 19th Birthday wish for you.

Now this makes me feel REALLY REALLY old, but I definitely do not feel that way (ok maybe some days I do). Age is just a number, right? I am going with the mantra 40 is the new 30.

Dear Fit n Trim Girl

Dear Fit n Trim Girl,

Some of us who come to this hospital (aka gym) are sufferers of what's known as Goodyear Disease. In my case, I am also suffering from an enlarged muffintop. It has not been pretty but it will not stop me from trying to reduce it's size. I may not look like your version of a typical runner but I am sure you figured that out after trying to race me on the treadmill & having to walk after 8 minutes. So my PSA (public service announcement) to you is never, never, never judge a "runner" by his or her size. Runners are all shapes and sizes and at all pace levels. Oh and one last thing, if you really want to know my speed, just ask. I would hate to see you pull a muscle in your neck from stretching it too hard just to see my screen.

2 flats & my friend Casey

Yesterday going home from work it was 90 ° and very humid. I couldn't decide if I wanted to hit the gym or ride my bike outside. Well the bike always wins so I decided to ride around my neighborhood & check out the progress of this new golf course community they are building. The first 5 1/2 miles were great then I got a flat tire in the back. I stopped to inspect and re-inflated it and tried to ride but only got to 10 feet before it went flat again. It was after stopping and flipping the bike over to begin changing the tube when I noticed the front was flat too. How the hell does that happen? So here I am in this new neighborhood with 2 flat tires,1 spare tube and 1.5 miles from home. Many colorful metaphors were spoken as I made my way back home walking with my bike.

I wrote a post (here) last summer about a group that I belong to called "I Run 4" where you are paired up with someone who is unable to run. My buddy is Casey & I wrote her a note about my ride on the IRUN4 Facebook group yesterday. Well her mom let me know that Casey has not been doing well & had to visit the hospital. So if you pray, I am asking that you say a prayer for my running buddy. She is the sweetest little girl. You can read all about her here.

I plan to head to the bike shop for 2 more spare tubes. Hopefully I will be back out on the road on Wednesday or Thursday.

Back to the grind

Well I sorta stuck to my plan this weekend. I survived most of the weekend without crashing and burning in Dietville. 

On Saturday morning I stuck to my plan and got up early and headed out on my bike. I decided to ride on the local running/biking trail near me. When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw a few of my running friends from the running club. I chatted with them for a bit before taking off on my bike. The first 8 miles were nothing but headwinds but I did not mind because first, I knew that coming back would be an easier ride & second, why complain on such a beautiful morning considering the last 4 days were nothing but rain. I didn't meet my goal of a 2 hour bike ride because, let's just say the Queen was not having it. I ended up going 16 miles in a little over an hour & torching 818 calories. It averaged out to 13.7 mph which I am sure it would have been much faster if I would have paused my watch at mile 8. I stopped & spent about 5 minutes taking pictures (call me a geek). 

 I got home and fixed up something to take to the BBQ. It was a nice feeling knowing that I could eat what I wanted and not feel guilty about it. 

The birthday BBQ was fun & we enjoyed catching up with friends and family. Surprisingly I managed rather well with the food, I ended up with 500+ left over calories by the time I went to bed that nigh. SCORE for Saturday!!

Now here is where it all goes down like a lead ball. Sunday was Fathers Day (Happy late Father's Day to all the Dad's out there). I started the morning off with toast & coffee. Lunch was Thai food (some seafood dish I cannot remember the name of & some rice) & then a rootbeer float after that. Dinner was 2 grilled  portabello mushroom caps, 1 spare rib & 4 oreo cookies. Ended the day with zero exercise & a major overage on my daily calories = GAH !!! Oh well, shit happens I suppose. 

So here we are on Monday & a start to a new week. The alarm clock won the battle this morning & I was unable to make it to the spin class so it looks like I will be do something after work. I may try to go on another ride as long as my sitbones aren't screaming at me or perhaps a short 2-3 mile run. 

 

Dietbet Day #5 ~ Will I survive the weekend?

A few posts back I mentioned that I signed up to play in this Dietbet game. If you'd like to participate you still can, the pot is almost $20,000.00. You can click here if you want to join the challenge.

Well today is day 5 of the Dietbet challenge & so far it's been going well. I have exercised everyday this week & have also stayed under my daily calorie goals. Yay me !!

What's completely amazing is I even got up at the ass-crack of dawn on Monday & Wednesday to go to a 5am spin class at the gym. I love spin class & getting up that early was rough but it sure does make for a good start to your day. The only time I ever get up THAT early is for a running race. I am going to try to make it 3 days next week. I need to work on going to bed by 9:30pm. 

advantage of early morning class is you can pick where you want to "ride"

The biggest battle I face is the weekend. For some reason, I find it to be the hardest time for me to stay on track. It's easier during the week because I have a set schedule because of work. It's especially going to be hard because on Saturday we will be at a lake having a BBQ picnic & celebrating 3 birthdays plus a high school graduation. But I am not going to worry because I've already devised my plan of action. I am going to wake up super early on Saturday morning to go on a LONG bike ride. I know that if I can manage a 2 hour ride without upsetting the 'queen' (guys this doesn't apply to you) I can burn off a motherload of calories. Then I can actually enjoy the food a the BBQ without feeling so guilty.

2 hour bike ride = nice hunk o' ribs 

I am actually looking forward to riding my bike. We have had rain everyday this week & the forecast for the weekend is gorgeous. Sunday will be a great day to be outside for Fathers Day too.

Just my random 2 cent tips for photo taking.

I was looking at some Facebook photography pages recently and cringed at the sight of some of the pictures that were being showcased for their customers.

Ok let me preface this by saying that I am NOT the perfect photographer. I do not own a photography business.  I consider photography my semi-pro hobby & I have shot a fair share of portrait (seniors, newborns, wedding, family etc…) as well as event & pet portraits. First, if I were to go in business, I would make sure that my portfolio would include some of my best pictures. Second, if I were to post a preview image for one of my paying customers, it would be of one where all the T’s were crossed & I’s dotted.

So here are some of my 2 cent tips:

Taking photos/portraits at a different angle can create a unique photo but doing it with a body of water as you background can be tricky. Nothing looks more amateurish then seeing a nicely posed family portrait with the body of water in the background flowing diagonally.

Do not be afraid to use the flash while taking outdoor images unless you prefer shadows on your customers faces.

When taking a close up facial portrait, please make sure the eyes are at least in focus. You know the saying “the eyes are the window to the soul”. There is nothing like looking at an out of focus window = close up portrait ruined.

When doing a full body shot make sure you do not amputate limbs. 

Bistro L'hermitage & Occoquan craft show

 On Saturday evening I was supposed to meet up with some running club friends at Panera bread for a mini farewell get together for our friend "M" who is moving later this month to Texas. I was unable to attend because hubby was doing paintball with his work buddies so I decided to treat "M" to brunch at a little french restaurant the following day. We agreed to get there when they first started brunch just in case it got crowded. We met up at 11:30.

front door - image is "backwards" I took it using my sideview mirror as I was leaving

The restaurant is a bit small but has a nice cozy feel to it. The tables are draped with white linens & topped with freshly cut roses. I noticed a chicken/rooster theme through out the dining area. Our table had a cute little glass chicken on it. I noticed other customers were dressed nicely. Thank goodness I was not wearing jeans. I do not think it is a requirement but I would definitely feel out of place.

Our waitress was very nice & provided us with a basket of warmed up crossiants. Holy cow they were good! 

Who doesn't like crossiants!

We looked at the menu while enjoying our crossiants. M decided to order the omlet of the day which was prepared with goat cheese & spinach and served with potatoes. 

 I ordered the grilled hanger steak & eggs served with potatoes 

We both cleaned our plates so there is no need to review how it tasted. Our waitress offered us dessert & we passed on it but then she made the mistake of offering a cappuiccino. Since I have zero will power when it comes to just about any coffee product, I ordered one. So yummy !!

This guy greets you at the front door & as we were leaving I had to get a picture of us. We decided to go check out the Occoquan craft show. It happens to be right down the street from the restaurant & we figured why not try and walk off some of these calories.

Twice a year, the small town of Occoquan hosts a craft show in the Spring and Fall. Vendors set up tents throughout the streets in the historic town to sell various types of goods. 

We walked up and down some streets checking out all the tents. It was HOT and very humid.

"Personalized" cut out picture frame mats- great for gift giving

Cute little plant stand with a removable solar light. Perfect for a porch or walkway.

This tent had some very funky colorful bags. 

We made our last stop at Mom's Apple Pie Shop. I was looking to see if they had any sweet potato butter but they did not have any.

I will leave you with this final picture of my furry girl who happens to be modeling her new Dallas Cowboys dog collar that I bought at the craft show.